Monday, December 6, 2010

First day of winter season arrives at different times of year

The first day of winter can either come faster, or later. Regardless of when the snow flies, the occasion can occur on either “Meteorological winter” or “astronomical winter”. However for many people, winter occurs with frigid weather, regardless of the technical definitions.

Start of Winter this year

Dec. 1 will be when 2010 winter starts. This is what a meteorological standpoint shows. Dec. 21st, 2010 is shown on the calendar to be the first day of astronomical winter season or the winter solstice. There were no explanations the winter season waited for this year. A few weeks of huge snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures had already taken place once December 1 hit. This year, the climate has been influenced a lot. La Nina was what made these changes. La Nina is a drop in ocean temperatures across the equatorial Pacific. The northern United States ends up with worse winter conditions when La Nina is occurring.

Celebrating the first morning of winter season twice

The meteorological winter started when the northern hemisphere got into its coldest temperatures on average. December 1 was when this happened. The coldest climate corresponds with the shortest days, beginning in Nov and extending through Jan. The coldest temperatures of meteorological winter season can be expected in January, when the snow pack has a maximum cooling impact on the atmosphere. The shortest period of daylight in the northern hemisphere is when astronomical winter season begins on Dec. 21st. Days start to get longer after the solstice. There will not be many more meteorological winter days left. But astronomical winter continues until the vernal equinox, which will be March 21 in 2011.

What winter season weather seems like for 2010-11

In real life, the first day of winter comes too early and the 1st day of spring comes too late for those living in the climates most affected by weather and short daylight. You will find certain areas that will get the winter season 2010-11 storms hitting the worst, accounts accuweather.com. The Northwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes and New England are all part of these areas. Above normal snow and ice is in the forecast for these regions. Go south if you need relief. From CA all the way to the Southeast a "non-winter" is forecasted.

Citations

Archeoastronomy.com

archaeoastronomy.com/2011.shtml

Accuweather.com

accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/40340/accuweathercom-winter-forecast-1.asp

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter



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